Content Marketing: Something You Could Learn from Hackers

February 8, 2022 | Dana Ungureanu

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An image is worth more than a thousand words, they say. Then why do we need content? And what on earth is “content marketing”? You are under a constant siege of content.

From the moment you sit down at your desk and switch on your computer, you start scrolling through a whole pile of doom. That includes emails from your superiors, funny GIF “Hey, mate” cheer-ups from your colleagues, and, well, more or less astute emails from a service provider you’ve already forgotten you subscribed to. When you think of it, you’ve got the .com boom to thank for all this doomscrolling.

Access to information anytime and anywhere disrupted the way we buy, sell, and consume pretty much anything online and offline. Long gone are the days when you’d just pick up the phone and dial a number from the phone book, wait to hear a voice at the other end of the line to recite your sales pitch.

Now you’re sitting on a pile of content waiting for the right time to fire away. But when is the right time? Do you randomly shoot it out, or is there some thought behind it?

The thought behind the content marketing afterthought

Like it or not, content is the best way to grab your clients’ attention and inspire trust. The purpose of content marketing is to guide your prospective clients through the sales funnel.

What does this mean? Well, like it or not, you need to come up with a brilliant piece of content that will blow your potential clients away at every “conversion” stage they are in. You’d better believe it because:

● 72% of marketers surveyed by the Content Marketing Institute said that content marketing (the pile of doom) has helped them attract more leads.

● Companies hosting a blog on their website get 67% more leads than those who don’t.

● Over 70% of B2B clients read blogs at different stages of their buyer journey.

● At least 81% of consumers do online research (read reviews, social media, blogs) before they complete a purchase.

Are you still doubting content marketing or wondering how to nail it?

Hackers really know content marketing

No earlier than September 2021 did cybersecurity experts reveal the existence of a bunch of malicious Android apps they dubbed “the GriftHorse”. Research shows that this naughty Trojan horse targeting Android users has been roaming Google’s green pastures since November 2020. Google Play and third-party app stores did not detect a thing. The question is, “How was it possible?”

This is where these hackers really nailed it. What is the first thing you upload on the App stores along with the slick app? Content, content, and content. And this is where these hackers really excelled.

At first glance, the GriftHorse attack aka ClipBuddy, SnapLens Photo Translator (still on the App Store for some reason), Fingerprint, and Defender. My Chat Translator – you’d better save these names somewhere, so you know to avoid them – are the typical run-of-the-mill kind of mobile app.

But make no mistake, nothing is random with these apps. Not even their names, which may not be the wittiest of names, but they do say a lot about their target market. And if there’s something that the grift hackers knew was content marketing. They did their homework well enough to know who they should emulate.

So, what did they do? Took their competitors’ ideas and made them better. By imitating their competitors in voice and style, they managed to trap millions of ill-fated mobile users.

How did they stand out to them?

Geo-targeting did the trick

The content marketing ace in the GriftHorse hackers’ sleeve was geo-personalisation. They personalised every single malware-fused call to action. If you were in Mexico, your CTA buttons and app content would be in Spanish (Mexican). They target no less than 70 countries.

Approaching users in their native language was more than courtesy. The grifters knew that they would get more clicks if they geo-personalised their CTAs and messaging.

They actually did – more than 10 million.

Maybe your market share is smaller or larger than 70 countries. What matters here is the approach. Personalisation – or shall we say, “localization?” – goes a long way. GriftHorse hackers used it to their advantage.

Now what?

Using localization and content marketing for good

Did the grifters hire a copywriter or a whole team of copywriters and translators? We don’t know that, and little does it matter. What matters is you can and should harness content marketing for good.

In an increasingly competitive market where most of the battles are fought and won online, you simply have no choice but to create content that captivates and inspires your users in a unique way. If you need help with that, we’ve got a few ideas.

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Content Marketing: Something You Could Learn from Hackers

The thought behind the content marketing afterthought

Hackers really know content marketing

Geo-targeting did the trick

Using localization and content marketing for good

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